In brief: U.S. Postal Service to make holiday deliveries on Sundays

The U.S. Postal Service says it expects 12 percent growth in its package business this holiday season.

Photo: HO

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Postal Service will deliver packages on Sundays in major cities and high-volume areas during the holiday season.

Seven-day delivery will run from Nov. 17 through Christmas Day in response to anticipated growing demands.

Litigation charge taken by Bank of America

Bank of America Corp. said Thursday it is taking a $400 million charge in the third quarter to cover litigation costs related to a regulatory inquiry into the bank's foreign exchange business.

The move follows similar disclosures by JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Citigroup that signal banks in the U.S. and abroad are facing allegations that they manipulated foreign-exchange rates.

Secret testing of faulty air bags in 2004 alleged

Alarmed by a report a decade ago that one of its air bags had ruptured and spewed metal debris at a driver in Alabama, the Japanese manufacturer Takata secretly conducted tests on 50 air bags it retrieved from scrapyards, according to two former employees involved in the tests.

The steel inflaters in two of the air bags cracked during the tests, a condition that can lead to rupture, the former employees said. The result was so startling that engineers began designing possible fixes in preparation for a recall, the former employees told the New York Times.

But instead of alerting federal regulators to the possible danger, Takata executives discounted the results, and they ordered the lab technicians to delete the testing data from their computers and throw the air bag inflaters in the trash, they said.

The secret tests were undertaken in 2004 at Takata's American headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich., the former employees said. A spokesmanfor Takata declined to comment on the disclosure of the testing. The faulty air bags have been linked to three deaths in the U.S.

Luxembourg's tax deals bring global criticism

Luxembourg, one of the world's wealthiest nations, came under fire Thursday after leaked documents allegedly revealed the extent to which it has attracted multi-nationals and the super-rich with sweet tax deals, depriving other countries of valuable tax revenue.

The government defended itself, saying it had done nothing illegal in its deals with corporations like FedEx, PepsiCo and Ikea. But other European nations, including neighbor France, criticized the tiny country's tax practices - particularly when they have to impose austerity cuts on their citizens to make ends meet.

At a protest march against further austerity in Belgium, the issue of Luxembourg's tax deals was raised often.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists said the practice in Luxembourg was widespread after it pored through some 28,000 pages of confidential documents.

In other news

Mortgage company Freddie Mac said the nationwide average for a 30-year mortgage increased to 4.02 percent from 3.98 percent last week. The average 15-year mortgage rose to 3.21 percent from 3.13 percent.

Mario Draghi, head of the European Central Bank, said he would consider more unconventional measures, such as large-scale bond purchases, to pump money into the economy. The news lifted stock markets in New York and Europe.